Strong Mid-year Results for US Pork, Beef Exports

A very solid June performance allowed U.S. pork and beef exports to finish the first half of 2010 with strong momentum. According to statistics released by USDA and compiled by USMEF, pork exports of 361.6 million pounds were 24 percent higher than June 2009. Pork export value was $316.4 million, up 34 percent. June beef exports were 25 percent above year-ago volumes, totaling 212.9 million pounds while the value in June was up 37 percent to $377.6 million.

Beef export volume reached 1.09 billion pounds – up 14 percent over the first half of 2009. Export value has fared even better, rising 22 percent to $1.83 billion. Export value per steer and heifer slaughtered was $139, compared to less than $115 last year. The percentage of total production exported increased from 10 percent to 11 percent.

One drag on U.S. export markets in the first half of the year is Cuba. U.S. exports to Cuba dropped 28 percent for the first six months of 2010, to roughly $220 million, due to severe economic problems on the island nation, according to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Economic Trade Council.

U.S. exports to Cuba dropped 28 percent for the first six months of 2010, to roughly $220 million, due to severe economic problems on the island nation, according to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Economic Trade Council.

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture reached a significant milestone in 2017 – 50 years since its founding. In the beginning the Foundation focused primarily on research for advancing agricultural mechanization and technology.

The Conservation Reserve Program is a voluntary program that pays farmers and ranchers to retire environmentally sensitive cropland. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are 10 to 15 years in length, yet USDA Farm Service Agency data recently revealed that nearly one-quarter of all land enrolled in CRP has been enrolled for more than 20 years, and 12 percent o […]